Apparatus for making mouthpiece cigarettes



Jan. 21, 1964 1-. ROWLANDS 3,113,454

APPARATUS FOR MAKING MOUTHPIECE CIGARETTES I Filed Nov. 22. 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 //V VENTOR ;d m d l/L #Ub;

Y M w, JMMW A 7702 NE Y3 Jan. 21, 1964 T. ROWLANDS APPARATUS FOR MAKING MOUTHPIECE CIGARETTES 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 22, 1960 Magi: wpmz z WW Jan. 21, 1964 1-. ROWLANDS 3,118,454

APPARATUS FOR MAKING MOUTHPIECE CIGARETTES 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed NOV. 22, 1960 Mafia, 6

A TTORA/E Yjl United States Patent C) 3,118,454 APPARATUS FOR MAKING MOUTHPIECE CIGARETTES Tom Rowlands, Deptford, London, England, assignor to Molins Machine Company Limited, Depttord, London, England, a British company Filed Nov. 22, 1960, Ser. No. 71,091 Claims priority, application Great Britain Nov. 26, 1959 3 Claims. (Cl. 131-94) This invention concerns improvements in or relating to apparatus for making mouthpiece cigarettes.

For convenience, a portion of mouthpiece rod of a length suitable for association with an individual cigarette will be referred to herein as a mouthpiece portion, while the expression composite mouthpiece rod is to be understood as meaning a portion of mouthpiece rod whose length is a multiple of that of a mouthpiece portion, and which comprises different components arranged endwise in line (whether in endwise abutment, or separated endwise) and held together by an outer enclosing wrapper. Thus a portion of mouthpiece rod which is double the length of a mouthpiece portion, and which contains more than one component, is an example of a composite mouthpiece rod. Such a double-length rod may be introduced between and joined to two plain cigarette lengths and then cut in half so as to provide two mouthpiece cigarettes. A further example of a composite mouthpiece rod is a portion of rod whose length is a multiple of the length of a double-length rod so as to be conveniently divisible into double-length rods, for example during the process of making mouthpiece cigarettes.

The word component where used herein is to be understood as meaning any portion of material suitable for incorporation in a mouthpiece portion. For example a component may consist of a piece of filtering material. In some cases a component may itself be composite in structure and comprise a plurality of portions of material, either arranged together or spaced apart, and joined by an enclosing wrapper. Where the context permits, the word component includes a pair or a group of components, arranged end to end.

Mouthpieces for cigarettes may take many different forms, for example a mouthpiece may consist of a portion of material (e.g. filtering material) enclosed in a tube but with a hollow open space at one end of the tube, namely the end which is to be put in the smokers mouth. Again, a mouthpiece portion may consist of two separate portions of material end to end, which may be of different character; for example one portion may be chosen for its filtering qualities, and may be located between the tobacco portion of the cigarette and another mouthpiece component chosen chiefly for its appearance. In that case also there may be a hollow open space at the extreme end of the mouthpiece. Further, in a composite mouthpiece portion such as has just been mentioned, the two separate components may be of different lengths.

In making mouthpiece cigarettes, it is usual to use multiple-length mouthpiece rods (whether composite or not) of a convenient length for handling, and to subdivide these into double-length rods, each of which is then inserted between, and joined to, two lengths of cigarette rod, the resulting assemblage then being severed through the double-length mouthpiece rod so as to produce two mouthpiece cigarettes. Accordingly the length of the mouthpiece portion required for a particular brand or type of cigarette determines the length of the doublelength rod, and the multiple-length rods from which these are cut must have a length which is an exact multiple of a double-length rod. The multiple-length rods used for difierent mouthpiece lengths must, therefore, differ somewhat in size, but it is desirable (especially if they are all to be used in the same mouthpiece-cigarette-making machine) that they should not differ too greatly in size from one another. Accordingly these diiferences are kept as far as practicable within convenient limits by varying the number of double-length rods to be cut from the multiple-length rods. As an example, three 30 mm. doublelength rods may be produced from a mm. multiplelength rod, while four 23 mm. double-length rods may be produced from a 92 mm. multiple-length rod.

Where the rods are composite, i.e. comprising different components, it is necessary to cut the continuous composite rod not only at suitable intervals to produce the required overall lengths, but also at the correct positions to produce rods having the desired arrangement of components-that is, an arrangement lending itself to subsequent subdivision of the rod into double-length rods and finally the subdivision of these double-length rods into individual mouthpieces.

As has been mentioned above, mouthpieces for cigarettes may take many different forms, and when they are of a composite nature (e.g. comprising two difierent portions of material, or comprising one or more portions of material enclosed in a tube with a hollow open end) the composite rod from which composite mouthpieces of any particular style or arrangement are to be produced must be suitably constructed as to its overall length and the number, lengths and disposition of its various components.

From the above it will be appreciated that while composite mouthpiece rods often provide a convenient intermediate in the production of mouthpiece cigarettes, nevertheless the use of such rods increases the complexity and cost of manufacture materially as compared with plain cigarettes.

It is an object of the present invention to provide appara' tus for making mouthpiece cigarettes which is capable of producing such cigarettes from cigarette lengths and mouthpiece components without the necessity for first assembling the latter into mouthpiece rods.

According to the invention, I provide apparatus for making mouthpiece cigarettes, comprising means to feed a number of mouthpiece components into a space between two cigarette lengths to form a group and means for subsequently joining the components of the group by an encircling uniting band, the feed means including means to feed pairs of components end-wise, a rotatable member arranged to receive pairs of components so fed, the rotatable member having a screw thread and having a presser surface to engage the rear component of a pair, and a countersurface so placed relative to the rotatable member as to support the rear component against pressure from the presser surface so as to arrest forward movement of the rear component until the screw thread has entered between the two components of the pair to insure their separation.

Preferably the apparatus also includes means for cutting through a central component in each group after application of the uniting band, each group containing an odd number of components. The feed means may include means for feeding single components alternately with the pairsof components so that upon separation of the individual components of each pair, groups of three components each are formed. The single component thus becomes the central component of the group which may be cut after application of the uniting band to provide end portions of two mouthpiece cigarettes. If the single components are in the form of a short cigarette length containing tobacco, the resultant cigarettes are filled with tobacco at both ends notwithstanding the presence of mouthpiece components such as filter plugs.

A preferred embodiment of the invention, by way of example only, will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of a machine for making mouthpiece cigarettes;

FIGURE 2 is an elevation of part of the feed means of the machine of FIGURE 1;

FIGURES 3 and 4 are views generally similar to FIG- URE 2, but illustrating the relative positions of the part at different stages of operation;

FIGURES 5 and 6 show, from one side and in plan respectively, a detail of the structure of FIGURES 2-4; and

FIGURE 7 shows a banding unit, being part of the machine of FIGURE 1.

The machine shown in FIGURE 1 includes a continuous rod cigarette maker C.M., which may be of any of the several known types; continuous cigarette rod C.R. produced by the cigarette maker GM. is delivered to a cut-off mechanism (1.0., from which it emerges as discrete cigarette lengths C.L., which travel to the left, as seen in FIGURE 1, at spaced intervals. Mouthpiece components are fed from hoppers 1, 2 via pusher discs 25 having pushers 24, conveyors 3, 46 and pusher disc 47 to positions between the cigarette lengths; thereafter the mouthpiece components are secured to the adjacent cigarette lengths in a banding unit B.U. which serves to apply a uniting band of tip material around the components and part of the adjacent cigarette lengths and then the resultant composite cigarettes are delivered to a knife 49.

If the cigarette lengths are each only long enough to make one cigarette, then components are placed in every alternate gap between successive cigarette lengths, and knife 49 arranged to cut through the uniting band and the mouthpiece components of the double-length composite cigarettes delivered by the banding unit to yield singlelength cigarettes; if, however, the cigarettes lengths are each long enough for two cigarettes, then the knife 49 will also be arranged to cut through each cigarette length at its midpoint; also components will be placed in every gap between successive cigarette lengths.

The assembly for feeding mouthpiece components is shown in detail in FIGURES 2-4 to which reference is now made, this assembly being one embodying the invention claimed in my copending application Serial No. 260,577, filed on February 25, 1963 as a division of the present application.

In FIGURES 24 it will be noted that hoppers 1, 2 and pusher discs 25 are omitted for the sake of clarity. Conveyor 3 is shown carrying single, long stubs S from hopper 1 and pairs of short stubs S from hopper 2, one

pair of the stubs S being shown just as it reaches the conveyor 3 with a pusher 24 engaging it. The conveyor 3 is a suction conveyor, comprising a perforated belt traveling over a suction chamber 4 so that air pressure serves to hold the stubs S, S to the belt.

Located above delivery end of the conveyor 3 is screw threaded rotatable member 15, termed for brevity a worm with an upstanding thread 16 forming a cam surface serving to propel the stubs in groups over a short bridge 18 from the delivery end of conveyor 3 to the intake end of the conveyor 46.

The pitch of the thread 16 on the worm 15 is in this case sufficient to enable one long and two short components to be accommodated in each space.

Close to the rear end of the worm (considered in the direction of feed) is a resser-surface formed by a slightly outstanding portion 32 of the cylindrical surface of the worm. This is shown in FIGURE 5 with its thickness, or amount of radial projection from the worm, somewhat exaggerated for the sake of clearness. The width of the surface 32 (that is, its extent axially of the worm) is about equal to the length of two of the short stubs S, and the worm is timed so that the surface 32 engages each pair of stubs S and presses downwardly against their cylindrical surfaces.

A short bridge 33 (FIGURES 5 and 6) extends over the suction conveyor 3 at a position such that it is directly opposite the rear half of the surface 32 (considered in the direction of movement of the conveyor 3) whenever the surface 32 passes over the conveyor. The bridge 33 consists of two parts but can be considered as a single entity with a groove down the centre, the purpose of the groove being to eliminate the possibility of a sharp edge tearing a stub at that place where the stub is suctionally held to the conveyor 3. The shape of the bridge is such that a stub moving in a forward direction is gradually lifted from contact with the suction conveyor 3 until it is lightly held between the surface 32 and the bridge 33. Each successive pair of stubs S is carried along the pushers 24 which move from contact with the rear face of the rear stub of the pair S just before the leading face of the leading stub of the pair S comes into contact with the bridge 33. The leading stub of the pair is then pushed over and past the bridge by the rear stub which is suctionally held by the conveyor 3. The rear stub, however, is momentarily arrested on the bridge by the surface 32, which comes into engagement with both stubs at the moment when the leading stub has passed over the bridge but while the rear stub is still supported on the bridge. Thus the surface 32 presses the leading stub against the suction conveyor so that it is suctionally gripped and carried along, but presses the rear stub against the bridge so that it is momentarily gripped and arrested in its forward movement.

By the time the surface 32 has moved away from the rear stub, the leading stub has travelled a sufficient distance to create a gap between the two stubs, the gap being wide enough to allow the start of the thread 16, FIGURE 4, to enter between the two stubs.

In the meantime, a long stub S behind the pair of stubs S has travelled forwardly substantially or almost into abutment with the rear stub S, and by its continued forward movement this stub S pushes the rear stub S over the bridge and against the rear face of the thread 16.

The rotational speed of the worm is such that the rear face of the thread allows the stubs to travel forwardly a little slower than the conveyor 3, so that the next pair S of short stubs, FIGURE 4, is fed into abutment with the stub S. In due course the presser-surface 32 comes into engagement with this further pair S of short stubs, and the cycle described above is repeated. The leading stub of this pair is thus abutted against the rear end of the long stub S and becomes the rearmost component of a group between two turns of the thread 16 the leading component of this group being the short stub which was the rear one of the preceding pair of stubs S. Each such group is spaced from the preceding and following group by a turn of the thread 16, and their spacing and also their longitudinal positioning controlled by the worm 15 while they are being fed by the worm.

The worm thus delivers to the conveyor 46 groups of stubs each comprising a single long stub S between two short stubs S, two such groups being shown at 45. FIG- URE 1, with the mechanism C.O. so arranged that the cigarette lengths C.L. are each long enough for one cigarette; the feed means from hoppers 1, 2 to pusher disc 47 inclusive is arranged to deliver one such group of mouthpiece components to every second gap between successive cigarette lengths.

The cigarette lengths CL and groups of components then travel to the banding unit B.U. This unit may take various forms, and in FIGURE 7 is shown one preferred form of handing unit, being a unit as disclosed in US. Patent No. 2,935,069, patented May 3, 1960.

The banding unit deals with groups of components G each comprising two cigarette lengths C.L. with one component group 45 therebetween, and applies a uniting band B of tip material around each group G, the band being suficiently wide to enclose the whole of the stubs S, S forming group 45 together with a suflicicnt length of each of the two cigarette lengths to hold the stubs firmly thereto. Turning to FIGURE 7, it will be seen that each group G is urged by a pusher P into engagement with the peripheral surface of a rotatable drum D. The drum D rotates anticlockwise as seen in the figure, thus causing the group of components to move to the left; as this motion takes place, the group rolls clockwise as it passes a cooperating stationary surface C disposed around a part of the circumference of the drum D, the spacing between surface C and drum D being fractionally less than the normal diameter of the groups of components passing.

A uniting band B of tip material is fed to the drum D and travels around with it to meet the component groups fed onto the drum by pusher P. The outer surface of band B, i.e. the surface not in contact with the drum, is coated wtih moist or tacky adhesive, so that as each component group reaches the drum, it adheres to the band B and, as the group engages surface C and rolls, it draws the band B round with it. The surface C is of such length that by the time each group has passed it, the group has rolled through rather more than one complete revolution; thus the band B completely encircles and unites the components With a suitable overlap.

Shortly before the band B meets the component groups, it passes a rotary cutter R.C., which cooperates with resilient inserts R in drum D to divide the band into discrete lengths each sumcient to encircle a component group with the desired overlap. After division, the cut lengths of band B are retained on the surface of the drum D by atmospheric pressure, as the surface of drum D has a plurality of apertures or ports A in communication with a stationary suction chamber E; it will be appreciated that each aperture A visible in FIGURE 7 is one of a row extending axially of the drum and all the apertures of each row are connected via a common conduit C.C. opening at the end of the drum to the chamber E which is formed in a stationary member against which the end face of the drum D bears. Each conduit C.C. moves out of register with chamber E as the position of band B above it approaches the point at which a group of components will reach the band so that the band is free to roll with the group, but the rear part of each cut length of band is retained on the drum by atmospheric pressure until the leading part of that length has been brought into contact with a component group and is commencing to adhere thereto.

The stubs fed from the hoppers -1 and 2 may be of different character, the long stubs from the hopper 1 (which will form the central parts of the double-length composite mouthpieces, and will therefore be cut in half when the united ciragette and mouthpiece groups are subdivided) being chosen for appearance, while the short stubs from the hopper 2 are chosen chiefly for their filtering qualities.

If desired, however, the long central stubs could be composite stubs, that is, each could consist of a pair of short stubs enclosed in a stiff paper wrapper and separated endwise, or the long stubs could be lengths of hollow tube. In either of these two cases the resulting mouthpiece cigarettes would each have a mouthpiece portion with a hollow open end, and at least one stub (preferabiy of filtering material) adjacent the tobacco portion of the cigarette.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for making mouthpiece cigarettes, comprising means to feed a number of mouthpiece components into a space between two cigarette lengths to form a group, and means for subsequently joining the components of said group by an encircling uniting band, the feed means including means to feed pairs of components end- Wise, a rotatable member arranged to receive pairs of components so fed, said rotatable member having a screw thread and having a presser surface to engage the rear component of a pair, and a countersurface so placed relative to said rotatable member as to support said rear component against pressure from said presser surface so as to arrest forward movement of said rear component until the screw thread has entered between the two components of the pair to insure their separation.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which the feed means includes means for feeding single components alternately with said pairs of components, so that upon separation of the individual components of each pair, groups of three components each are formed.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, including means for cutting through a central component in each group after application of the uniting band, each group containing an odd number of components.

References Qited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,189,148 Gwinn Feb. 22, 1938 2,781,122 Gueifroy Feb. 12, 1957 2,898,059 Stelzer Oct. 1, 1957 2,859,868 Stover Nov. 11, 1958 2,882,970 Schur Apr. 21, 1959 2,390,787 Carter June 16, 1959 2,904,049 Korber Sept. 15, 1959 2,953,878 Schur Sept. 27, 1960 2,994,251 Pollmann Aug. 1, 1961 3,939,589 Molins et al June 19, 1962 

1. APPARATUS FOR MAKING MOUTHPIECE CIGARETTES, COMPRISING MEANS TO FEED A NUMBER OF MOUTHPIECE COMPONENTS INTO A SPACE BETWEEN TWO CIGARETTE LENGTHS TO FORM A GROUP, AND MEANS FOR SUBSEQUENTLY JOINING THE COMPONENTS OF SAID GROUP BY AN ENCIRCLING UNITING BAND, THE FEED MEANS INCLUDING MEANS TO FEED PAIRS OF COMPONENTS ENDWISE, A ROTATABLE MEMBER ARRANGED TO RECEIVE PAIRS OF COMPONENTS SO FED, SAID ROTATABLE MEMBER HAVING A SCREW THREAD AND HAVING A PRESSER SURFACE TO ENGAGE THE REAR COMPONENT OF A PAIR, AND A COUNTERSURFACE SO PLACED RELATIVE TO SAID ROTATABLE MEMBER AS TO SUPPORT SAID REAR COMPONENT AGAINST PRESSURE FROM SAID PRESSER SURFACE SO AS TO ARREST FORWARD MOVEMENT OF SAID REAR COM- 